| TIP: Assume wild and crazy phonetic spelling, | | | | that a clerk didn't hear the name clearly, so a |
| pre-1850. | | | | birth record may be differently spelled than other |
| Surnames were not spelled in a standardized way | | | | records. |
| until well into the 1800s in most of the Western | | | | Nicknames are particularly challenging. Use all |
| world. As you search for your greatgrandparents | | | | possible name varieties for a nickname, being |
| or further back, you may find it very confusing | | | | open to unusual origins. Often a maiden name of a |
| to see their names spelled 'wrong' or changed | | | | mother or grandmother would be used for a first |
| from one census record to another. Definitely you | | | | or second name of a child, particularly for male |
| will find many variant spellings a century or so | | | | children. For example, Randy could be from |
| ago. You need to enjoy puzzles when searching | | | | Randolph, Randall, Ranulf, Rand, or Ransome. Girls |
| for clues to your correct ancestors! | | | | were often named for a mother or grandmother |
| For example, my greatgreatgrandfather was a | | | | of either side, and sometimes given a nickname |
| Francis William Pettygrove, originally from the | | | | to distinguish them from a (living) relative. Betty |
| state of Maine, who moved with his wife Sophia | | | | could be from any of these names: Beth, |
| to Port Townsend WA, and raised a passel of | | | | Elizabeth, Bettina, or even Alberta. Another source |
| children. He is listed on various records as Frances, | | | | of names: Jack is often from John, but could also |
| Francis W., F.W., F.Wm.; surname spelled | | | | be from Jackson. Never make assumptions about |
| Pettigrove, Pettigrew, Pettygrew, Petigrow. As | | | | names and their spellings when you're looking for |
| you can imagine, if I had checked only for Francis | | | | the correct ancestor's family. |
| Pettygrove, I might have missed many important | | | | By the mid-1800s spellings became more |
| records! | | | | standardized, and most adults were able to read |
| Another example is an ancestor Henry Luther | | | | and write so could spell "correctly". In the earlier |
| Rice - sometimes listed as Luther, or H. Luther, or | | | | years, many people had limited knowledge of |
| Luther H., or sometimes just Henry. On one | | | | reading and writing, and they rarely filled out any |
| census, his first wife had an entirely wrong name, | | | | forms. These days, we fill in forms every month, |
| and on another census his second wife's name | | | | it seems! But it may have been a very rare |
| wasn't listed at all - perhaps one of the older | | | | occurrence for our ancestors. Certainly before |
| stepchildren answered the census-taker's | | | | 1855 I have seen "X" for signatures of some of |
| questions! Often whoever was at home at the | | | | my ancestors, on their marriage registers, for |
| time of the census provided answers to the | | | | example. |
| census-taker, and their memories - and spelling - | | | | Researchers with a particular surname have |
| may have been questionable. Another point: his | | | | developed websites or family associations with |
| surname, Rice, looked a lot like Bee a few times | | | | detailed proven family trees. This can be a great |
| on records. Now what? When you find that a | | | | help for the amateur genealogist in finding correct |
| family is living in a particular village or township on | | | | ancestors with already-detailed research sources |
| one census, look through all the records of a | | | | and citations as well. Look for such helpful groups |
| following census, if you can't find them again. It | | | | online by searching your surname plus the words |
| could be that it was too challenging to read the | | | | 'family association'; you may find more than one |
| census-taker's writing. On birth records, it could be | | | | of your surnames are researched in detail. |